We are calling time on plastic waste and pollution by endorsing the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's New Plastics Economy Global Commitment.

The New Plastics Economy looks for businesses and organisations to endorse the commitment to reduce our single-use plastic use, innovate so all plastics we do need are designed to be safely reused, recycled or composted, and to contribute to a truly circular economy.

Our work at Keep Scotland Beautiful goes a long way to forcing a change in our habits concerning single-use plastic items already, and our ambition for this Global Commitment is that we can encourage organisations across Scotland to join is in ending plastic waste and pollution today.

Through our campaigns such as our Cup Movement, we are encouraging people to not just change their littering behaviour, but encourage them to think of sustainable alternatives to plastic and call on businesses to aid in the recovery and recycling of single-use items.

With 12.7 million tonnes of litter entering our marine environment each year and 50 tonnes of litter left at Scotland's roadsides every month - much of which is plastic - it is more than time to make these changes.

The aim of the Global Commitment is to see businesses and governments commit to a set of ambitious targets:

Elimination of problematic or unnecessary packaging through redesign, innovation and new delivery models;

Reuse models applied to reduce the need for single-use packaging;

All plastic packaging made 100% reusable, recyclabcle or compostible;

All plastic packaging is reused, recycled or composted in practice;

The use of plastic is fully deoucpled from the consumption of finite resources;

All plastic packaging is free o fhazardous chemicals, and the health, safety and rights of all people involved are respected.

We also contribute to the UN Environment's Sustainable Development Goals, including goals 12 (Responsible Production and Consumption) and 14 (Life Below Water). This Global Commitment reaffirms our support of these goals, and we hope other businesses and organisations will join us in calling for an end to plastic pollution.

It's not a question of if we can survive without plastic but how we can. The time to act is now.